National Foundation for India
Fellowships for Independent Journalists
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India is facing a second and worse wave of Covid-19 pandemic. At this time, the country requires journalism to tell the stories of courage, of loss and grief, of the state of preparedness and about the efforts being made by communities, individuals, civil society and government. |
Journalists are needed to document with rigour the gaps and lacunae in governance when it appears.
At the same time, journalists need to be vigilant about the many spiralling effects that the pandemic and subsequent decisions to tackle it has on lives of many and on the economy at large.
To help them do so, National Foundation for India (NFI) is launching the second window of its media fellowships for independent journalists outside six large metropolitan cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Hyderabad, or Bengaluru).
In the first round NFI granted fellowships to 21 outstanding journalists from across the country. You can read about them and their work here.
In this second round, 36 fellowships were granted to independent journalists reporting in English (26) and Malayalam(10).
The fellowships in Malayalam were being provided in collaboration with our partner Azhimukham.
What does the Fellowship Provide?
Each fellow will be granted INR 30,000 to publish one story of 1,000-1,500 words on a broad range of themes and issues of public interest, reported in depth over one month.
If required, NFI will connect the grantee to a senior journalist as a mentor to guide and help the grantee in reporting better.
We will aid the grantee in publishing the stories with different media organisations. The reportage in Malayalam will be published by our partner Azhimukham.
How are the fellows selected?
On the next page we provide details, criteria and a pitch guide for the application. Please read them carefully before filling in the detailed application form.
An NFI-appointed jury of eminent journalists selects the grantees based on the detailed application. For the fellowships to report in Malayalam, the editorial leadership of Azhimukham and NFI will jointly select fellows.
Weightage is given to candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Early submissions get additional weightage during the selection process.
Fellowship grants are announced within 15 days of the application window closing. Successful candidates are informed by email and through announcement on the NFI website.
